Thanks y'all.
It's basswood, carves REAL easy, but is so soft, it dings too easily. Just have to urethane it good. I still like it though.
I like all the positive support, I remember art school days, where we would tear apart everyone's pieces! It kinda toughened ya. This is great.
AA- counterfeit Leroy looks AWESOME, that's going to be a cool piece hangin around.
Benzy-I finally saw Whale rider, the movie-so much cool carving there, I finally see why you like that style so much. I'm going to eventually try some of those stylings.
Mahalo to all!
"(May you be) in (Divine) Breath." (to all that compliment me!!!)

Basswood... I bought a chunk early on when I started carving, but abandoned the project. The stock was about half the size of yours for about $15 or so. Somebody told me that basswood doesn't stain well, but obviously it does, 'cause that really looks nice, SnT. Maybe I'll have to salvage that old piece. Thanks for sharing.

A-A
_________________"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

The stain is the same as I used on my last 2 tikis. Some spots on the basswood absorb differently, so it kinda looks like 2 different stains, but it's just the one.
I can't remember exactly what I paid for the basswood, but it wasn't that much... somethin like $15 for 16" x 28" and 8" wide, I cut it in half lengthways to have 8" x 8", 28" long. Had to drive for 2 hrs to get it though.
_________________s U r F i N t i k i

What kind of place would have raw wood like this? I went to a local woodcarver's store but they didn't have any wood! Just really expensive tools in display cases. There were three customers waiting to speak to every worker so I didn't ask anyone where the wood is sold.

I called around different lumber places and mills, but I believe it was a tip from a guy at a power tool store that told me about this place. Called HK Hardwoods, that's all they sell, I was psyched, but when I got there it was mostly long 2x4's, and some scraps. But plenty of little Cherry and Basswod scraps...not too shabby.

If you're looking for pre-cut stock, you might think about picking up some redwood. It's not very expensive and finishes up beautiful. I haven't used any yet, but I know Polynesiac has done some really nice carvings using off-the-shelf redwood 4x4.

A-A
_________________"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso